Opening Day / Buying a Car

Opening Day this year was on Thursday, March 31.  One of my co-workers had extra tickets she was trying to get rid of, so I asked my sister and Kristin if they wanted to go.  This was my first Opening Day, so I was very excited.  We didn't get to see all the pre-game festivities, which was kind of a bummer, but we got to see the first pitch.  We were winning for most of the game...until the 9th inning when we gave up a home-run which tied the game and then made errors and couldn't hit to save our lives in the following innings.  Even though we lost 5 to 3, it was still a fun game and I'm glad I went.  Here is a photo of Kristin and I towards the beginning of the game.  (not the greatest angle, but we only took 2 photos and in the other one, only half of my face was in the frame...)

Saturday, April 2 was a monumental day in my life.  I bought my first car! As many of you know, I've been driving the Toyota Corolla since I could drive.  It's a good car and served it's purpose well, but at 11 years old and over 100,000 miles, it has been showing it's age...burning up more oil, literally falling apart in places, and I think there is something wrong with the transmission... Anyways, I've been thinking about buying a new car for quite some time.  It's something I wanted to do before I moved out of my parents house.

Back in 2009, I drove a Ford Focus (with Justin) to Washington D.C.  I really liked that car and especially liked the cruise control.  So that was one of the cars I had in mind when we went test driving.  My dad suggested Enterprise because they sell good pre-owned cars for reasonable prices.  While I would have liked a brand new car, I decided a pre-owned car was more affordable at this time in my life.


So yesterday we went to Enterprise to see what they had on their lot.  I test drove a Ford Focus (they only had a silver one with beige interior on their lot).  I liked the features and how it drove, but wasn't in love with the color (or the sticky steering wheel).  Then I test drove a Chevy Cobalt.  I really liked the feel of that car, but it didn't have cruise control -- which is something I really want since I have several road trips planned this year.  Then I test drove another car, which I liked, but the price was a little more than I wanted to pay.


I told the salesman, Jim, that I really liked the Ford Focus, but didn't like it in the silver.  We went into his office and he looked to see if another lot had the blue my heart desired.  I was in luck!  The south city location had a blue '09 Ford Focus on it's lot.  We drove down there and picked it up and I test drove it back to the lot on Lindbergh.  Jim then let me test drive it to my house to pick up my mom (and the checkbook).  It's kind of ironic that I first discovered the Ford Focus in 2009 and then ended up buying a 2009 Ford Focus SES.  


I love it!  Sure there are a few scratches (but if you've seen my Corolla, you know that scratches don't bother me that much).  It has everything I wanted in a car...it runs, has powered locks and windows, cruise control, cup holders, nice size trunk, and the driver's seat can be adjusted higher so I can actually see over the whole steering wheel!  And it has some features I didn't need, but think they're pretty darn cool --the radio controls are on the steering wheel and it has a media sync... I can connect my phone to the car with bluetooth and if anyone calls me while I'm driving, I can just hit a button on the steering wheel and it's like talking on speaker phone.  I don't know how often I'll use this feature, but it's neat.


Here is a picture of me posing by my new car at the dealership!!!

So there you go...now I'm broke, but extremely happy with my new car :)